Grand Theft Wiki:Rules

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Revision as of 21:03, 21 April 2007 by Gboyers(Talk | contribs)(New page: {{policy}}__NOTOC__ There are five basic rules of Grand Theft Wiki. They must be followed by all users at all times. Failure to comply with these basic rules may result in a warning, temp...)

This page documents official Policy on Grand Theft Wiki. It concerns standards that all users should follow.When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

There are five basic rules of Grand Theft Wiki. They must be followed by all users at all times. Failure to comply with these basic rules may result in a warning, temporary suspension or permanent ban of IP and/or account from Grand Theft Wiki. If you can suggest an alteration to these rules, please discuss it on the talk page.

Administrators on Grand Theft Wiki reserve the right to block any account that is involved in a breach of these rules for any length of time. However, there are specific guidelines on what staff should do in different situations.

Policy covers more than these basic rules, and there are also other guidelines for how to behave and do everything around Grand Theft Wiki. However, if a user performs an action not listed here which has negative consequences for Grand Theft Wiki, its users or other people, Administrators reserve the right to perform judgement on these cases on an individual basis. See Grand Theft Wiki:Dispute Resolution for details on the procedures to go through if you disagree with actions on Grand Theft Wiki, whether they be from an Administrator or another user.

1) No vandalism, hacking, spamming, advertising

Editing pages in a way that is detrimental to Grand Theft Wiki is against the rules. For example: removing useful content, deliberately introducing mistakes, deliberately 'breaking' the layout of a page or adding irrelevant content. Also, using Grand Theft Wiki to promote a website without prior discussion is disallowed, except in the case of official websites or those already approved for use on Grand Theft Wiki. "Hacking" Grand Theft Wiki, whether that is attempting to gain access to others' user accounts, attempts to gain access to the server or attempts to disrupt the service of Grand Theft Wiki will not be tolerated.

2) No pornography or swearing

Swearing is only appropriate in quotes, such as those from a game. Using words such as fuck, cunt, twat, shit is inappropriate. It has been noted that the age restrictions on a GTA game is such that only mature people may play it, although these restrictions are not universal. However, it is widely known that a large proportion of Grand Theft Auto fans (if not a majority) are under the age of 18. Partially for this reason, and partially for formality, professionalism and decency, swearing is forbidden on Grand Theft Wiki.

3) No discrimination or abuse towards members or other people

Abusing other users (flaming) is not how members of Grand Theft Wiki should conduct themselves. If there is a disagreement, it should be discussed maturely on the Talk page for the disputed article. If a user has done something wrong (such as broken some rules), members should not make fun of nor abuse that user. Discrimination on grounds such as of race, gender or sexual orientation is strictly forbidden, as even light-hearted comments can be very hurtful. These rules also apply to when discussing people who are not members on Grand Theft Wiki.

4) Do not post copyright text or images

It is tempting to simply copy text from other websites for use on Grand Theft Wiki, or to upload images made by others. However, you must comply with the copyright restrictions of everything you post. If there is a breach of copyright on Grand Theft Wiki, it will be the user who uploaded the content who is held responsible. However, it is believed that short extracts of content are acceptable. If larger extracts are required, they should be clearly marked as to where they came from (eg in a Quote box. Also, it is believed that it is fair to use screenshots and logos on relevant pages, to assist with a description.

5) No sock-puppetry or user impersonation

Impersonating another user is strictly forbidden, whether it be attempting to gain access to their account or creating a similar account. This also applies to falsely claiming to being someone famous or to work for a notable company. Creating multiple user accounts for one person is forbidden, particularly if it is to circumvent a block from the site, to mislead others or to create the illusion of greater support for an issue. The only exceptions to this are bots, which are secondary user accounts used for automatic functions such as cleaning articles or converting images. A bot must have been granted permission by the Administrators before the creation of the account.